Isomaltulose and sucrose trifle: satiety and energy intake
What it found
In a crossover trial in healthy adults, trifle sweetened with isomaltulose raised blood glucose less than sucrose trifle at 60 minutes, but feelings of satiety and energy eaten later in the day were about the same.
The difference in blood glucose was not linked to satiety or to how much people ate afterwards.
What they found
Studies in people
Blood glucose difference
At 60 minutes after eating, blood glucose was 0.69 mmol/L lower after the isomaltulose trifle than after the sucrose trifle. This difference was statistically significant.
Satiety ratings
Mean satiety response over 150 minutes was not significantly different between the two trifles. The average appetite scores were 4493 mm·min for sucrose and 4527 mm·min for isomaltulose.
Energy intake later
Energy eaten for the rest of the day was 3894 kJ after the sucrose trifle and 3530 kJ after the isomaltulose trifle. This difference was not statistically significant.
Link to satiety
The difference in blood glucose response between the trifles was not related to feelings of satiety or to how much people ate afterwards.
What the authors conclude
“The slower rate of digestion of isomaltulose compared with sucrose generated a glycemic difference between the two trifles at lunchtime, but this glycemic difference did not result in differences in feelings of satiety or in subsequent food intake over the remainder of the day.”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that the slower digestion of isomaltulose compared with sucrose generated a glycemic difference between the two trifles at lunchtime, but this glycemic difference did not result in differences in feelings of satiety or in subsequent food intake over the remainder of the day.
- They say these data are novel and will hopefully lead to other investigators testing the satiating properties of these sugars amongst a wider demographic.
How it was done
The authors wanted to test whether a food sweetened with a lower glycemic sugar would increase feelings of satiety. They aimed to isolate the effect of blood glucose response by using two sugars with identical building blocks but different digestion speeds.
Seventy-seven healthy adults ate a trifle sweetened with either sucrose or isomaltulose at lunchtime on two separate days, two weeks apart, in a double-blind crossover trial. Blood was sampled at baseline, 1 and 2 hours, and satiety was rated using visual analogue scales over 150 minutes. Participants also weighed and recorded all food and drink eaten for the rest of the day.
What it can’t tell you
- The participants were mostly young, healthy women, so the results may not apply to other groups such as older people or those with impaired glucose tolerance.
- Blood glucose was only sampled at baseline, 1 and 2 hours, so the peak difference between the trifles may have been missed.
- The study cannot show whether larger differences in blood glucose would affect satiety, because the trifle format limited the glycemic difference.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by University of Otago (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- The authors declare no conflict of interest.
- Authors work at
- University of Otago, New Zealand
The paper
- Title
- The Comparative Effect on Satiety and Subsequent Energy Intake of Ingesting Sucrose or Isomaltulose Sweetened Trifle: A Randomized Crossover Trial
- Type
- Randomised controlled trial
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Kendall FE, Marchand O, Haszard JJ, Venn BJ (2018). The Comparative Effect on Satiety and Subsequent Energy Intake of Ingesting Sucrose or Isomaltulose Sweetened Trifle: A Randomized Crossover Trial. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu10101504Free full textPubMed 30326587DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error